T4 and T4A Slips

T4 tax slips for 2018 and subsequent years will be provided to McMaster University employees by electronic delivery through Mosaic. Electronic delivery is fast, secure, and allows employees to print tax slips at their convenience or to download a digital copy of their slip. Recent amendments to the Income Tax Act now allow employers to use electronic distribution of T4 tax slips and the Canada Revenue Agency recognizes electronic delivery as a valid means of providing tax slips to individuals.

The slips will be available on or before February 28, 2019 in accordance with the annual deadline set by the Canada Revenue Agency.

For the 2018 tax year, if you will be receiving a T4A tax slip from Human Resources, you have the option to elect whether to receive your T4A slip via electronic delivery or have it mailed to you.

For those employees who would like to receive an electronic copy of your T4A, please confirm consent to access your slip information. For those employees who do not give consent or withdrawal consent, prior to the date that the annual tax slips are produced, a T4A paper copy will continue to be mailed to the current address on file.

To confirm consent to receive your T4A Slip online through Mosaic, or withdraw your consent in order to receive a paper copy:

Use the drop down on your Mosaic Home page and select the Employee Self Service option

Click on the “Opt for Electronic T4/T4A Slip” tile to provide your consent

If you need additional information on how-to change your T4A consent status, including alternate menu navigation, please refer to the “Quick Guide” or “User Guide” provided in the links in the section below.

If you withdraw your consent for electronic delivery, the change will only be effective for the subsequent annual production of T4A slips (i.e.: changing your status does not trigger an individual slip to be mailed at the time you update your consent status).

Important Note: In order to be able to view your T4A slip online in Mosaic, you must have provided your consent for electronic delivery.

To view your electronic T4 or T4A tax slip on Mosaic:

Use the drop down on your Mosaic Home page and select the “Employee Self Service” option

Click on the “View T4/T4A Slips” title to download your electronic T4/T4A slips.

If you need additional information on how-to access your tax slips online, please refer to one of the following helpful guides:

Please note, in order to set-up your login for CRA’s MyAccount to gain full access to your tax information, you will first need to receive a ‘CRA Security Code’ which the Canada Revenue Agency normally delivers to you via mail once you have completed the initial ‘MyAccount’ set-up steps. For additional assistance in obtaining the ‘CRA Security Code’ you can phone the CRA’s “Individual tax enquiries” telephone support line: 1-800-959-8281 (Canada and United States)

Understanding your T4 or T4A tax slip(s):

Information to help you understand your T4 (Statement of Remuneration Paid), or your T4A (Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income), is available on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website:

If replacement slips are required for any reason or you have any questions, please contact your Human Resources Representative or alternatively dial 222-HR (22247).

Review your tax deductions

The beginning of a New Year is a great time for all employees to consider reviewing their personal tax declarations. Your tax exemptions are displayed in the upper right corner of your pay statement.

Why should I review my Declarations?

One or more factors might prompt an individual to submit an updated tax declaration to their employer:

Change in Marital Status

Children welcomed into your family, or progressing to adulthood

Entering into, or completing, a program of study

Moving between part-time employment and full-time employment

Beginning or ending paid employment with multiple employer(s)

When does the Canada Revenue Agency require me to submit a new Declaration?

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not require each individual to submit a new TD1 form to their employer each year. However, they recommend that each individual who declares more than the Basic Exemption Amount review their tax exemption declarations at the beginning of each calendar year.

Whenever an individual's applicable tax exemptions change, the CRA requires an employee to submit a new TD1 form (and a TD1-ON form as well, if above Basic Declaration amounts) to their employer within 7 days, to help ensure there are no negative impacts on the individual at tax time.

If I am receiving two pay statements each pay, what do I need to know?

McMaster issues multiple pay statements for alimited number of employees who hold multiple jobs at McMaster. The majority of employees still have a single pay statement each pay. This is due to the way PeopleSoft stores Year-to-Date values when corporate EI rates differ, in support of the Canada Revenue Agency's requirement to report these on separate tax slips.

For example, an employee who holds both a Teaching Assistant position and a Casual worker would still see a single pay statement. However, an employee who holds both a position covered by the collective agreement with UNIFOR and a Casual position would see two statements, as would an employee in the TMG group who is also a Part-Time Instructor.

Payroll systems treat each paycheque separately when calculating income tax, so employees who are now receiving multiple statements for the same pay period may have seen a reduction in the total income tax being deducted across the two statements, to a greater or lesser degree.

All employees who are now receiving multiple statements are strongly encouraged to review their 2019 pay statement tax deductions, and to submit revised TD1 and TD1-ON forms for 2019 if they determine that their tax exemption declarations require any change.

Where can I access the TD1 and TD1-ON forms?

Links to the Canada Revenue Agency's 2019 Tax Exemption Declaration forms can be found online: